A Charged RSO, or AG, will have the following responsibilities before and during a hearing:
- To be honest.
- To attend the scheduled hearing on a specified date, time, and location.
- To have personal information kept private. All hearing proceedings are confidential and private. The Office of Community Standards may share information with campus partners with a legitimate educational interest of the matter.
- To conduct themselves in a manner that is respectful and honorable. Any participant that is disruptive to the hearing process will be dismissed and the process will continue in their absence.
- Only the College may record in the investigative and hearing proceedings. No other form of recording or transmission of any proceeding (including investigations) is allowed.
- A registered student organization (RSO) or Affinity group (AG) may be accused of a violation of the Standards of Conduct regardless of whether a member of the organization is individually accused of a violation arising from the same incident(s). Registered organizations and sponsored activities are subject to the same rules and regulations as individual students, and Rhodes may hold them accountable for their actions even when the College pursues charges of misconduct for the same incident against individual members of the group.
- A RSO or AG may be held accountable if any of the following situations regarding an alleged violation(s) of the Standards of Conduct apply:
- The conduct is sanctioned by the organization and/or any of its officers. “Sanctioned by” includes, but is not limited to, active or passive consent or encouragement or possessing prior knowledge that the conduct was likely to occur; and/or
- The activity involved such a significant number of members of the organization and/or the organization advertised or promoted the activity through communications associated with the organization, such that a reasonable person would conclude that the activity was affiliated with or sanctioned by the organization; and/or
- The organization, either in whole or in part, planned and/or implemented the activity, and/or advertised the activity; and/or
- The activity occurred on property (whether on campus or off) owned, controlled, rented, leased, or used by the organization or any of its members for organization activities; and/or
- The activity was related to initiation, admission into, affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in the organization; and/or
- The organization knew or should have known about the activity and failed to act responsibly in preventing it.
- In any hearing resulting from a violation by a RSO or AG in which it is determined that the violation was caused by the action of individuals rather than the official action(s) of the organization, those individuals may be referred through the Community Standards process as individuals.
- The president of the RSO/ the primary student point of contact for the AG shall represent the organization in all conduct proceedings. Rhodes College-issued email addresses are the primary means of communication with RSO or AGs and the Office of Community Standards. Officers within the RSO or AGs are responsible for all communications delivered to their Rhodes College email addresses. RSO or AG leadership should check their Rhodes College email address daily. Notices of an investigation, meetings, and hearings are only sent to Rhodes College email addresses.